Climb
by Aviatorman
Summary: Symbols hold power in the mind, so much so that a damage to the symbol can mean damage to what it represents. One man sets out to damage the symbol of the Emperor's invulnerability and light up the night.


_This was something I wrote months ago due to the combination of two ideas; my pondering on why nobody ever tried to firebomb the Imperial Palace, and wondering what would have happened if Joe's stunt in Light Up The Night / The Fall had actually worked, or at least inspired people._

_Obviously this was partially inspired by The Protomen. I do not claim to own The Protomen (who own themselves), their music, Star Wars characters, concepts, or places._

_Also, if you like it, hate it, find it hilariously bad; please let me know._

* * *

_Climb…_

Jolif Tavqus was climbing the tallest thing on Coruscant (or Imperial Center as it was known in these times); the Imperial Palace. The long flagpole was cumbersome to climb with, but it was necessary for the performance. Besides, Jolif grinned as the wind tried to pluck him from the side of the building, it wasn't as if he was going to use it again.

_Climb…_

Thirty feet to go.

_Climb to the top of the world…_

Finally, his fingers nearly numb and the cold wind making his face feel like it was on fire, he reached the very top of the Imperial Palace. For a moment he stood, looking at the city-planet laid out below him, saw the infoscreens on every street glowing, watched the speeders go by, the carefully scheduled arrival and departure of passenger ships, cargo vessels, private shuttles, and military transports. It was a beautiful and well-ordered machine. And it was time to throw a hydrospanner right into the most delicate and expensive part of it. This spectacle had taken months to plan and had set the local Rebel cell back by thousands of credits in bribes. The timing alone had been a nightmare, if the Emperor was present on the day of the demonstration then even getting to this stage of the plan would have been impossible.

_And as you stand tall…_

Time to see if that had been money well spent.

_You will see…_

Jolif pulled out a small remote from a pouch on his belt and pressed one of the buttons. Suddenly, every infoscreen on the planet no longer showed the weather, news, and the results of the latest sports events. Now each and every one displayed the Rebel crest and the legend "A hero is just a man who knows he is free". Then the crest disappeared but the legend remained, but the screen now showed a shot of the Imperial Palace broadcasting from a camera that had been specially placed by Jolif's cell. The shot started wide but quickly zoomed in to show a man standing atop the tallest point of the Palace and it was clear he had a furled banner with him. The camera saw as unfurled the banner and let the wind catch it and stretch it out and the world watched with it. The flag was a burnt orange color and standing out on it was the Rebel crest rendered in black.

The symbol of opposition to the might of the Imperium had come to the stronghold of that might, to the very heart of it like an assassin's dagger. Jolif had carefully carved a hole in the surface of the Palace before he had switched on the camera which would allow him to plant the flag so that it would stay when he let it go. Now all he had to do was wait, any minute now security would be-

Pain blossomed in his chest. The camera saw the shot and it saw him as he looked down to see a circular hole in his torso that had not been there a moment ago.

Ah, snipers. He should have known.

_That when you fall…_

Oh well. This was part of the plan, after all. Jolif grinned and raised his left arm into the air, the right one still holding onto the flagpole, though more for it to steady him than for its need of his steady grip. A solitary finger rose from his upraised fist, the third of five, to be precise. Another shot hit him in the chest. Jolif grinned wider, even though the pain almost made him black out.

_You will fall… _

He turned his upraised hand around, showing to the whole world that he held a remote in it. The very remote he had used to commandeer the infoscreens. He pressed another button and every infoscreen displayed a new legend; "Ideas are blasterproof". Other words, like 'Freedom', 'Equality', 'Hope', 'Justice', and 'Honor' floated around the legend. At the same time, an entire side of the Imperial Palace erupted into flame as explosions blew out windows, twisted metal struts, and marred the immaculate stone with scorch marks. The camera had now been blinded, both by the remote's command and the covert security forces of the Imperial Palace. It did not see the figure take stumbling steps to the edge of the tower and, for a moment, balance on the edge before being taken into the encompassing arms of physics. But people for miles saw the fire and smoke rising from the Imperial Palace, they saw the waving banner until finally both were removed by swift airspeeders, their crews hastily working to repair the damage.

_From a height…_

The guards approached the broken body carefully. They knew that anyone insane enough to prepare a demonstration like this would probably booby-trap the body just to spite the Imperials who would come across it. Finally, it was determined that the body had nothing more technologically advanced than a broken remote, a personal ID, and, strangest of all, a folded flimsiplast on the outside of which had been written simply "For Emperor Palpatine". The officer on sight finished reading it, his face pale. He finished his report with a recommendation that the note be forwarded to its intended recipient as soon as possible. The report and the note passed through many bureaucratic hands, each reading it, and each making the same recommendation that the lowly guard officer had.

_Most men will never reach_

Finally, many days later, a nervous clerk was admitted to the Throne Room to deliver the note personally into the hands of His Majesty. The clerk was scared out of his wits by the scarlet figures of the Imperial Guard, terrified by the tall figure in black whose breathing was steady and mechanical, but worse by far was he frightened by the wizened old man sitting in the throne. He shakily approached the throne and knelt. "M-my Lord Emperor, w-we have a note from the dangerous insurgent w-who defiled your wonderful home," the clerk stammered.

"Ah yes, I have read the reports of this man, what did the report say his name was? Yes, Tavqus , Jolif Tavqus. That was it." The Emperor's voice was amused. He was enjoying the terror of this young clerk before him, no doubt the man feared that the Emperor would have him killed simply for bringing a note from a foolish dead man. It was simply exquisite. "Give me this message from beyond the grave and be on your way, young man. I do not wish to keep you from your no-doubt-important work." The clerk nodded to the Emperor in gratitude, presented the note to him, and fled the Throne Room as quickly as possible without actually teleporting.

The Emperor's gnarled hands unfolded the flimsiplast sheet. It was so strange that a man with enough arrogance to personally climb up the Palace and plant the symbol of the Rebel Alliance would not be vain enough to leave behind a message that was more ostentatious. With a feeling of scorn, he began to read.

"_Hello Emperor Palpatine,_

_ No doubt you read this with a smile on your face and a laugh in your heart for someone foolish enough to defy you at the seat of your power. Maybe I am foolish, I am most certainly dead or else you would not have this letter at all. But I will let you in a little secret; you too will be dead soon. I am not so arrogant as to believe that it will be I who lands the hit, because I have no illusion that I will survive what I am about to do. No, it will be someone else who deals that long-deserved blow. Maybe one of your courtesans, a Moff, a member of the Rebel Alliance, or even just some average man off the street who can't take it anymore. Maybe even that young Jedi I've been hearing about, Luke I think his name was. _

_ But I've done much worse than kill you, Palpatine. I have hurt you; I have stolen your illusion of invincibility from you. I set fire to the symbol of your power and planted the image of your hated enemies at the very peak of your Palace. I have shown everyone on this planet and whoever else my broadcast reached that you are not ineffable nor are you omniscient. If you were, I would never have even gotten this far. And my example will inspire others and people will begin to wake up to see that your hold on their lives is only as tight as they let it be. _

_ You can laugh all you want and say I am wrong because I am dead, but I know that thirty dead men walking destroyed your Death Star and for their sacrifices their names will be forever remembered. But I know that I won't be remembered. You will destroy this note, burn my body, and do everything in your power to erase the footage from existence. But now the word is out there and the idea has been planted. And you can't kill an idea however hard you try. _

_ For Freedom,_

_ Jolif Tavqus_

Palpatine was livid and his acolytes could feel it, even the Hands who were far away on assignment. He was absolutely furious that a dead man would have the audacity to taunt him from beyond the grave. He did exactly as Jolif had predicted and he went several steps further; every person who had read the note, every man who had seen the body, every official who had taken the bribes that had allowed there to even _be_ a body, all of them now lay dead on his order.

But the Emperor could not kill an entire planet full of people, nor could he fully quash the recording of the events. Every time his agents wiped the material or banned it or raided the homes of whoever had loaded it onto the Holonet, another person would just upload it again. And the worst part, the _worst_ part was that somehow, someone had gotten a copy of the note and had attached it to the video. Now everyone with an interest and Holonet access knew what Jolif had done and every one of them knew his name. He had managed to achieve a kind of immortality, a man with enough audacity to assault the Imperial Palace in broad daylight and then taunt the Emperor from beyond the grave.

Such men are Heroes, and everyone knows that Heroes live forever.

Less than three months later, Palpatine left to personally oversee the completion of the second Death Star, with which he was sure he would finally crush such rebellious thought.

The End


End file.
